The death penalty was submitted on Thursday by the People’s Procuracy of Hoa Binh Province against 11 defendants for “illegally trading and storing drugs” as part of a massive trans-national heroin trafficking operation.


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Defendant Tran Duc Duy at the court hearing.


The case, which involved 23 people, saw 1,415 heroin bars being smuggled.

The 11 death sentences were proposed for Tran Duc Duy and 10 other men.

Duy was also charged for allegedly “storing weapons for military use”.

Life imprisonment was proposed for eight other defendants.

Twenty years in prison was proposed for three others, while a 24 to 38 month-imprisonment proposal was submitted for a woman named Vu Thi Thu Thao for “not denouncing criminals.”

According to the indictment, in January 2015, Ministry of Public Security’s Criminal Investigation Police Department caught red-handed Duy, 31, residing in Luong Son District of Hoa Bình Province transporting 94 heroin bars, a pistol and seven bullets in Doc Ma area in Hoa Bình Province.

Further investigation found 22 other smugglers involving in the trans-national ring, appropriating VNĐ13 billion (US$578,000) and over CNY700,000 ($101,000)

The court hearing will last 20 days, beginning from February 27. The lawyers’ debate starts from Friday. 

VNS